How Ruby Rose went from little-known Australian DJ to US starlet

WITH three Hollywood action blockbusters and a global cosmetics deal, rising star Ruby Rose is taking no prisoners in the US.

JESSICA PRINCE-MONTAGUE

Sunday StyleAugust 7, 201612:00am

Ruby Rose insists she doesn’t begrudge anyone in Australia for not believing she could cut it as an actor.Source:Supplied

A BIG, burly security guard turns to the crowd surging towards him.

“Back it up! Back it up!” he yells, arms raised, trying to stop the tsunami of young women from swallowing him.

It’s no use.

Outnumbered roughly 100 to one, he calls for reinforcements to help him outmuscle the mass.

Behind him is the reason for the commotion.

While working the DJ circuit, Rose felt stagnant and harboured a secret. Picture: VICE for Urban DecaySource:Supplied

We’re in a converted warehouse space in Brooklyn, New York – all hipster with its neon lighting, black furniture and DJ turntables – and a celebrity is posing with fans in front of a wall emblazoned with lipsticks the size of her head.

We’re here to celebrate that she is the new face of uber-cool cosmetics brand Urban Decay, and the crowd – beauty “influencers” flown in from across the world – have officially lost their sh*t.

But it’s not Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Lawrence or even a Kardashian they’re screaming for.

It’s Ruby Rose.

To say that the Melbourne-born actor and former MTV VJ is popular in the US is like saying Americans mildly like fast food.

After her scene-stealing performance as Stella Carlin in last year’s Season 3 of Orange Is The New Black, Rose has become one of the hottest properties in showbiz.

“I couldn’t get an acting job in Australia because nobody was ever going to believe me as anything except Ruby Rose.”

She has three back-to-back action films in the works, a combined social media following of 14 million, was named one of 20 stars on the verge of international fame by The Hollywood Reporter and took home the top gong at this year’s GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) Media Awards in LA.

And that’s without even mentioning this new global cosmetics deal – complete with a 10-metre-high billboard of her face in New York’s SoHo district.

But Rose’s transition from popular Australian TV host to would-be superstar in the US hasn’t been a fairytale trajectory.

Netflix's Orange Is The New Black was a breakout moment for Ruby Rose. Picture: SuppliedSource:Supplied

Since abruptly leaving our shores in early 2013, there’s been rejection, a stint in rehab for depression and a period slogging it out in LA before anyone took notice.

Sitting down with Rose the day after her Urban Decay event, I find her still on a high.

Following the almost-stampede of obsessed fans, the party had spilled out into a back alley, which was abuzz with thumping music, vending machines dispensing lipsticks and pop-up food stations.

Rose, who has not drunk alcohol since circa 2011, mingled with guests – albeit flanked by security guards in case pandemonium broke out again.

“They were such nice guys,” she insists. “They’re really just big teddy bears.”

Hit the rewind button to three-and-a-half years ago and life for Rose in Australia was considerably quieter.

“MTV was an amazing five or six years of my life, but the whole time I was trying to segue into acting. [Instead] I got a radio show, a clothing brand, then invited to meet the Prime Minister and talk about bullying.

“I was watching Torah Bright win the gold medal for Australia and telling viewers, ‘She just did a double flip, twirly thing…’ “I was worried if I didn’t do something different I’d be doing it forever,” she adds.

“Even when [prison drama] Wentworth was being cast I was told, ‘Nah, I don’t think people are going to buy that,’ which is ironic because I ended up on Orange.

“I couldn’t get my foot in the door in any way, shape or form.”

“I was never going to make it as an actor in Australia; I had to come to America to do that.”

In a move that shocked many, Rose upped and moved Stateside in 2013.

She rented an apartment in Santa Monica and slept on a blow-up mattress, even adopting a rescue dog, Ru, before she’d furnished her place (she’s since adopted another mutt she named Chance).

“I had a rough time and for the first year it was nothing to write home about,” she says.

“I couldn’t get my foot in the door in any way, shape or form.”

But instead of hitting open casting calls, Rose took matters into her own hands.

“Because I couldn’t get into the room with any agents or directors, I thought, ‘I have to start creating my own content,’” she says.

“Since I was a kid I loved jumping off things and climbing .. Guess it's the country girl in me... Picture: Ruby Rose/InstagramSource:Supplied

Rose somersaults off a boat on holiday in Europe. Picture: Ruby Rose/InstagramSource:Supplied

Together with friends, she made an autobiographical short film titled Break Free.

In it, Rose starts off as a blonde bombshell standing in front of a mirror, who then strips back her make-up and cuts her hair to resemble a heavily tattooed, short-haired male.

“I really wanted to put something out there as a message for other people, and it just went viral.

It was a statement for society that I didn’t think I was making at the time.” Rose’s clip hit the zeitgeist on the head by addressing issues of gender, belonging and identity, racking up more than 20 million hits on YouTube.

But more importantly, it grabbed the attention of Jenji Kohan, creator of OITNB, who then reached out to her about the role of Stella.

“I literally had two and half years of tumbleweed,” says Rose. “But now it’s the complete opposite.”

Picture: VICE for Urban DecaySource:Supplied

Rose celebrated her 30th birthday this year in true Hollywood style while filming on set with Vin Diesel in Toronto.

Off the back of her OITNB success, Rose signed on for a trifecta of action films.

All three will be released in the next 12 months and propel her to an even greater height of fame.

There’s Resident Evil: The Final Chapter with Milla Jovovich, John Wick: Chapter Two alongside Keanu Reeves, and xXx: Return of Xander Cage with Vin Diesel.

“I don’t feel famous,” insists Rose. “None of the films are out yet, so it’s the calm before the storm. Nothing has really changed.”

Except for the fact that it has.

Rose celebrated her 30th birthday this year in true Hollywood style while filming on set with Vin Diesel in Toronto.

“He took me axe-throwing for it,” she says.

“Before signing on to xXx I was going to have a big party back in Australia, but this ended up being perfect.

“Yes.” Picture: Ruby Rose/InstagramSource:Supplied

“Precious time with the most important people in my life. Some of my oldest friends and some of my newest xox” Picture: Ruby Rose/InstagramSource:Supplied

“It was literally with a real axe and you have to hit a bull’s-eye, like you would playing darts.

“Afterwards, Vin came out [riding] a BMX bike he’d bought for me.

“He’s the biggest dude in the universe on, like, the tiniest bike in the universe.

“Then we had, like, seven birthday cakes…”

He’s not the only celebrity Rose can now lay claim to being BFFs with, either.

In the past year she’s been pictured on Instagram alongside rapper Drake at Kendall Jenner’s 20th birthday, planting a kiss on the cheek of It-girl Hailey Baldwin, and, most recently, water sliding with Taylor Swift (who Rose has described as “one of my best friends”) at the singer’s epic Fourth of July bash on Rhode Island.

She is also blissfully loved-up with new girlfriend, American model and entrepreneur Harley Gusman, with the pair’s romance playing out front and centre on Instagram.

She’s previously spoken about being the victim of intense bullying in high school after coming out at age 12.

Rose, who has reportedly been engaged four times (most recently to fashion designer Phoebe Dahl) posted an image of her new girlfriend in June along with the caption: “Someone wake me up.

This can’t be real.” Given Rose’s professional and personal success, you can understand why she feels the need to pinch herself.

Raised by Katia Langenheim, a single mum, in Melbourne, she’s previously spoken about being the victim of intense bullying in high school after coming out at age 12 (once even hospitalised for having a metal chair smashed into the back of her head).

She’s also been open on social media about her battle with depression – from being prescribed antidepressants at 14 to going to rehab and working with trauma therapists when she left Australia for the US.

But the dark days now seem firmly behind her.

“I felt bittersweet about how much praise I was getting from everyone.”Source:Supplied

“I now take really good care of my health. I have more energy at 30 than I did when I was 21.

I have not stopped. I’ve just worked on three films back-to-back, but I’m still like, ‘Let’s go.

Let’s do more. I’m not ready to wrap.

“I definitely feel a different energy than in my early twenties or, God forbid, my teenage years.” When she’s not shooting on location, Rose still travels for DJ gigs (she did 75 in 2015) but otherwise maintains a base in Los Angeles.

She jokes she’s now a clichéd Californian.

“I’m not going to wear a T-shirt that says ‘kale’, but I love kale,” she laughs.

“You can’t help but fall into this SoulCycle, coconut-water-drinking, Santa-Monica-on-the-weekends type of lifestyle.

“We do the same thing back in Oz, but it’s a little bit more cult-y.”

“What I like about America is that they don’t build you up to tear you down. They just build you up. People want you to succeed.”

It’s little wonder that Urban Decay – which is based in Orange County’s Newport Beach and shares a similar laid-back Californian approach – also wanted to tap into the Ruby Rose phenomenon.

Needing a face to launch the new Vice lipstick range, chief creative officer Wende Zomnir knew Rose, with her 70-odd tattoos, was perfect for the brand.

Zomnir co-founded Urban Decay in the mid 1990s, peddling lipsticks with names such as Roach, Smog and Acid Rain that came in cases resembling shotgun shells.

Picture: VICE for Urban DecaySource:Supplied

Her products were the perfect antidote to the pink and beige monopoly of that era and have since become synonymous with championing self-expression and “beauty with an edge”.

Rose agrees the partnership was a no-brainer.

“It’s such a cool, cutting-edge make-up line that promotes individuality. It has that rock-star chic vibe I’m really drawn to, and on top of that, I’m an animal lover.

“I knew they were cruelty-free, so I just wanted to be part of the company.”

The 100-strong range of Vice lipsticks will launch exclusively in Mecca stores in Australia this month, but Rose won’t be back home until Christmas.

“I’d like to be the next Bond girl, please, I’ve been practicing all week, haha.” Rose gets back on the boat in Ibiza. Picture: Ruby Rose/InstagramSource:Supplied

“Working so hard for [success] again made me really care about it more.”Source:Supplied

She plans on spending it with her mum, for whom she has recently bought with a new car.

She was last here in November for the GQ Awards (she won Woman Of The Year), but admits she was uneasy on the red carpet.

“Being home publicly was bringing up a lot,” she said. “I’d visited but hadn’t attended anything big in such a long time, so I felt bittersweet about how much praise I was getting from everyone, but also thinking about the struggle before I left,” she says.

“I definitely believe in tall-poppy syndrome and I think we don’t support our own as much as we should,” she continues.

“There’s a strange way [Australians react to success]. Not just the media, but people, too.

“The media might write a really nice story, but the comments are going to be filled with people trying to take them down.

“I think if I’d hit Hollywood any earlier, I’m not sure I’d have this amazing career.”

“What I like about America is that they don’t build you up to tear you down. They just build you up. People want you to succeed.

“They want you to do well, and when Australia finally sees it, they seem to follow suit a little bit.”

Naturally, Rose will continue riding this wave in the US for the foreseeable future – or for as long as she has fans bowling over security guards to get close to her.

She insists, however, that she doesn’t begrudge anyone on home soil for not believing she could cut it as an actor.

Sunday Style, August 7.Source:Supplied

“It’s not like that at all,” she explains.

“I had to work very hard for it, so it’s not like, ‘Ha-ha, I showed you.’ Every job I did, every interview and everything that has happened – good, bad, whatever – it all happened for a reason and prepared me.

“I think if I’d hit Hollywood any earlier, I’m not sure I’d have this amazing career.

“Working so hard for [success] again made me really care about it more and think about what I do and who I want to be.